This episode, Denny and James drink a fresh 2016 Alishan from Teamasters generously supplied by Ryan Ahn of the Penn State Institute.
Tag: Teamasters
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Shan Li Xi Hung Shui 2011 Teamasters Taiwanese High-Mountain Oolong [Episode 32]
In episode 32, James & Denny review a unique 2011 Hung Shui oolong cultivated from the Shan Li Xi growing region. Acquired via Teamasters, this tea is a new experience for both Denny and James.
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Oriental Beauty Teamasters Taiwanese Oolong [Episode 31]
James & Denny review another tea from Teamasters, a premium and immaculate Oriental Beauty. With a wonderful silky texture and characteristic sweet, honey notes this is a very nice tea.
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Shan Li Xi Teamasters Taiwanese High-Mountain Oolong [Episode 30]
James & Denny review a high-mountain tea from the Shan Li Xi growing region in Taiwan. Acquired via Teamasters, this tea is characteristic of Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs low-oxidation and very fresh.
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Teamasters, Featured Vendor
The vendor profile for Teamasters is a part of our Taiwanese Tea Vendor Series, covering a number of Taiwanese-tea specialized vendors that sell to the west.
Based in Taiwan, a French ex-patriate Stephane Erler founded and runs Teamasters. Now one of the oldest online vendors and tea bloggers Teamasters was originally conceived as a tea blog in 2004. Stephane has been steadily consistent throughout the years in creating new content (his output now totals over 1,500 blog posts!). The Teamasters blog has been immensely helpful in my own personal tea education as well as the creation of this site! Now Stephane in addition to his day-job as a western-facing vendor is regularly invited to events around the globe to speak about tea topics and Taiwanese oolongs. (more…)
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The King of the 80s: Dong Ding
The year is 1980. Ronald Reagan was elected president, The Empire Strikes Back had just been released, and Dong Ding was at the top of the Taiwanese tea world. Before Da Yu Ling, before Lishan, before Shan Li Xi (all relatively new entities in tea), and even before Alishan, there was Dong Ding. Perched at an elevation above nearly all other tea-growing region in Taiwan, Dong Ding was literally at the top of the Taiwanese tea world. Feng Huang, a township within the traditional Dong Ding tea-growing region, housed one of the highest-elevation plantation in Taiwan (~1000 meters), that marked the modern-day equivalent of 105k Da Yu Ling. This very, very premium tea was processed with the utmost care by top Taiwanese tea farmers and roasters. (more…)
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The Price of Low-Elevation Taiwanese Tea
What is the average price of Jin Xuan? What about Oriental Beauty? Should I be buying in bulk?? Taiwan offers an eclectic and flavorful lineup of oolongs that goes far beyond their wonderful but pricy high-mountain collection. Though the western world remains a distant minority in Taiwanese oolong consumption, in recent years the amount of western-facing vendors has quietly and quickly multiplied. This can likely be attributed to increasing demand, the ever-increasing size of the internet and Taiwan’s close political and economic connections with the west. With a suddenly large pool of online vendors sourcing or shipping from Taiwan, western consumers have an opportunity to make decisions and choices not previously available. Now…let’s go shopping!
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Taiwanese Tea Vendor Guide
There are a number of vendors in the western world that offer Taiwanese Oolongs. Prices vary dramatically vendor to vendor and tea to tea (cheap, expensive) and there are even Taiwanese tea forgeries (i.e. grown in China/Thailand, harvested in a Taiwanese style and marketed as Formosa/Gaoshan Oolong). Navigating the online vendor landscape can be a difficult and often costly endeavor. This section will simply try to help you get what you pay! This article was originally intended to be part of the Taiwanese Oolong Compendium but it quickly became obvious it should be its own separate article. For those interested in a more data-driven approach to the price and finding the best deal for Taiwanese Gaoshan, check out the price of high-mountain oolong. (more…)
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The Price of High-Mountain Tea
Buying tea and shopping for deals can be confusing. The landscape of vendors is intimidating and oftentimes a simple purchase at the cheapest price can be a mistake. Complicating matters, there are no consistent quantity standards and varying shipping policies only add to the already-considerable confusion. This article will attempt to illuminate many of these issues, while specifically analyzing Gaoshan (Taiwanese) high-mountain tea by examining how tea prices vary mountain to mountain and vendor to vendor. High-mountain oolong in particular tends to command the most-demanding price/oz and oftentimes what may seem like a deal is not really a deal at all. Check out our vendor guide for a vendor by vendor breakdown of Taiwanese gaoshan specialists. Please note that high-mountain tea (>1000 meters) excludes many popular Taiwanese teas like Dong Ding, Tieguanyin, Oriental Beauty, and Baozhong (all grown at lower elevations). (more…)
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Taiwanese Oolong Compendium
Taiwan has been described by Marshaln as “The Tea Shop Island” and is truly a tea lover’s heaven. Like Japan and unlike China, the standards for authentic Taiwanese tea are quite high. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all tea marketed on the internet as Taiwanese tea is extremely high quality (or even grown in Taiwan!), but that most tea acquired through reliable sources will be of reasonable quality. While green tea and black tea are also grown in Taiwan, Taiwanese Oolong is the most famous tea type coming from Taiwan. Taiwanese Oolong is also commonly referred to as Gaoshan (high-mountain tea) or Formosa (Taiwan), and you will see these names used interchangeably amongst the tea drinking community. (more…)